After years of work, activists in Brattleboro are celebrating. Crosswalks will be installed this fall on Putney Road at the Hannaford supermarket and at the circus school. As of 2017, Brattleboro had the nation's highest rate of pedestrian death by car.

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In Keene 300 or so people marched to protest racist white police officers who kill unarmed African Americans. The march was on June 19. There was also a rally. One of the speakers was Jacob Chiza. The below photo was taken by Jim Murphy. It shows Chiza at the rally. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click “see full size image.”

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In Springfield on June 26 there will be a car caravan calling on state politicians to allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses. It starts at 5 p.m. at 380 Plainfield Street. It's being organized by the Pioneer Valley Workers' Center.

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Ward Goodenough is the prosecutor in Windsor county, Vermont. In a phone interview on June 24 he told the Valley Post September is the earliest a trial could start for Chad Emery. Emery has been a Brattleboro police officer for almost 20 years. On June 18, state police arrested Emery for allegedly assaulting a teenage woman, and other crimes.

Sean Wilson was a Brattleboro police officer from July 2016 until November 2018. His girlfriend in January or February 2020 told police he assaulted her many times. In November 2018, he switched to a job as a police officer in Essex, Vermont. He resigned from that job last year. On February 6, 2020 Sarah George told the Valley Post, "He was arraigned on Monday to charges of domestic assault and criminal threatening. His next court date is scheduled for March 11." George is Chittenden county prosecutor. On June 25, 2020 she told the Valley Post that Wilson died by suicide.

According to a New York Times article published last year, "If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to www.SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources."

As of 2018, Brattleboro police were killing people at a rate far higher than the national average. Details are at:

http://valleypost.org/2018/07/17/brattleboro-police-kill-high-rate

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The group 350 Vermont has done an outstanding job putting pressure on politicians to deal with climate change. The group has done this by organizing very well-attended marches in Brattleboro, at the statehouse and other locations, and by other methods. Abby Mnookin lives in Brattleboro and is on the staff of 350 Vermont. On June 20, 2020 the Valley Post asked her to provide a comment about a 2017 article in the Guardian newspaper that said by far the best thing anyone can do to stop climate change is have one less child. The article at:

www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-fight-climate-change...

Mnookin said via email, “It's a slippery slope to advocate for people to have fewer children because all too often it's white people from wealthy, industrialized nations trying to dictate family size of Black and brown people in other parts of the world. While the global human population clearly has an impact on climate, consumptive patterns of wealthy nations and the 100 most polluting corporations demand more of our attention and action. Additionally, it feels important to note that eco-facism is on the rise, which is also extremely dangerous.”

The Center for Biological Diversity works nationally and employs dozens of lawyers. Stephanie Feldstein is the group's population and sustainability director. On June 23, she told the Valley Post, “We can’t ignore the reality that global population has more than doubled in the past 50 years and continues to rise. If we don’t address population growth through reproductive freedom and gender equity, our efforts to fight climate change will always be an uphill battle. And this isn’t just a problem in other countries – the average American has a carbon footprint 700 percent larger than the average person in most African countries, yet nearly half of all U.S. pregnancies are unplanned. The climate crisis demands action on all fronts. We must simultaneously shift to clean, just renewable energy, hold polluting corporations accountable, transform our food system, and expand human rights to stabilize our population. When we avoid talking about population, we’re not only leaving out a critical piece of the puzzle to reduce emissions and advance reproductive rights, but we miss an opportunity to confront xenophobia and inequality as perspectives that have no place in the environmental movement and that interfere with real solutions.”

According to

https://ourworldindata.org/per-capita-co2

“In just 2.3 days the average American or Australian emits as much (carbon dioxide) as the average Malian or Nigerien in a year.”

Walking or riding a bicycle rather than driving is one of the best ways to stop climate change. Crosswalks make that safer.